Method of conditioning waste



Oct. 21, 1930.

E. s.. PEARCE 1,779,010

METHOD OF CONDITIONING WASTE Filed June 7, 1928 .BAL/IVG pw Pans-.9

` am nys/fava E Mmmm *J ms f" g j: esiess f 2 :5231:: I 0 b I l fz?. '-3-l) /6 INVENTOR //f gow/W /7 BY v fdff-M 3 ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 21,1930 S. PEABCE, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO RAILWAY SERVICEAND SUPPLY CORPORATION,

INDIANA OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A CORPORATION 0F METHOD oFCONDITIONING wAsTI:

Application led June .7, 1928. 'Serial No. 283,724.

This invention relates to a method forconditioning new waste for use asa carrier for 1 oil for the lubrication of railway car journals and thelike. f

One grave objection to the use of waste'for supplying oil to the journalsurface to bel lubricated is the danger of hot boxes',-due to failure ofthe waste to deliver the lubricant to the journal'surface. `For sometime past it has been assumed that such failures of the waste have beencaused by sand, grit, or metal particles or fragments collected by tliewaste during use or as part of its original composition, or by shortworn fibres, any of'which may become compacted against the rotatingsurface and shield it from the lubricant. The waste was assumed toconsist of relatively long wool and cotton fibres so completelyinterlaced as to form a yielding fibrous body to compel travel of thelubricant in all directions and hence to the journal bearing, and it wasbelieved that these long fibres were broken or torn in use to smallersizes having a tendency individually to lodge without motion in a givenzone of the rotating surface and prevent its lubrication.

My investigation leads me to the conclusion that more serious andharmful results are produced and many hot boxes are caused by anotheringredient of the waste heretofore not taken into consideration, to wit,the lint, which is very fine textile material, either wool or cotton, orboth, including the very fine fibres and fibrous fragments, much smallerin size than the so-called short fibres and either l in lthe raw wastein the beginning or normally resulting from tear or wear ofthe longermore efficient fibres during use of the waste.

during use in Under a high powered microscope magnifying twenty or morediameters a single useful strand or fibre of waste appears in the fieldas a heavy solid line and the lint looks like the finest hairs spreadingout from the strand in all directions and of very small diameter ascompared with the strand itself. This fine lint is not firmly anchoredand becomes detached and in the presence of lubricating oil the journalbox it Hoats freely with-the liquid toward the surface to be lubricatedand ultimately mats together like felt,

forming what might be referred to as an im- )enetrablejfilter bed, whichblocks or undesirably retards lubricant flow by shutting off' theability for capillary action from bre to fibre to develop. The result isto 'pile `up this filtering lint within the waste body or against therotating journal with afailure of lubricacharring and burn` tion, risein temperature, ing of the lint and nearby oil and waste, and theproduction of a tarry residue from the oil, these effects becomingcumulative until finally lubricant flow is completely shut off and a hotbox develops. I have discovered that the tendency of the lint to movewith the oil maybe taken advantage of in the removal of the lint byusing the lubricant as a vehicle to remove the lint, as will appear.

Of course, in the preparation of waste for lubricating purposes, thereisno objection to removing therefrom short fibres, sand, grit,

metal fragments, or other mechanical impurities, either from new unusedwaste, if such are present, or from used waste during the process ofreclamation or renovation thereof. Their presence is objectionable, andefficient waste should be clean and of uniform texture.

ations and experience in practice the danger which dictates the removalof such materialsl lis over-shadowed by a greater necessity foreliminating, or at least reducing, the amount of lint Iinnew wastebefore it is supplied to its first bearing, as well as its subsequentremoval, should it reappear for any reason, in any later renovation orcleaning after use. To that end the present invention' has for itsobject the provision Aof a method which eliminates or materially reducesthe amount of the lint content in new waste intended for lubricating useas stated, and further, te provide a method of this kind which can becarried out at low cost, with simple forms of standard apparatus, and ina manner to largely do awaywith judgment by the operative, thereby totake advantage of low labor cost.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of one system ororganization of apparatus for practicing the method; and Figs. 2 to 4inclusive are detailviews more or less Nevertheless, according to myinvestiincludes either wool or cotton fibres or both.

washed and dried by the market drum or cylinder 1 in which the waste`isv air, is conducted or circulated by the fan 3, the,

It is usually produced from used fabrics containing various dyes andfrom mill strands.

Such material, with any desired or convenient proportions of wool andcotton, and of course ordinary laundry practices, Where necessaryr toremove dirt, is shredded or torn to reduce it to fine fragments and toopen up and separate from each other the threads or fibres of thetextile fabric so that its Weave entirely disappears. This step isperformed in any suitable or desirable shreddingor tearing machineindicated. conventionally at A.

The product of this machine may be termed raw waste. It has been usedheretofore for many purposes and is the product customarily employedwithout change for journal box lubrication by mixing therewith a properquan-` tity of lubricating oil. By my invention I be- `egin to eliminateor remove the lint from this raw waste before it is used for lubricatingpurposes and all steps of the method are'directed with 'the two aims ofremoving lint and supplying proper lubricant.

The lint may be removed. by any suitable treatment or method or even bysuccessive employment of different treatments. A certain proportion maybe removed while the raw waste is in the condition in which it isdeliv,- ered by the shredder. Such waste, of course, contains a certainamount of moisture largely depending upon the humidity of the air.` Thatmoisture, as well as the dye later plays its part in preventing thelubricant from permeating the -wasteby interfering with libreabsorption. It is therefore desirable to remove moisture at an earlystage and keep it out so far as possible during later stages. Itherefore first place the waste in a suitable agitating' dryer, wherethe waste is tumbled over and over or otherwise agitated with access' ofdrying air in any suitable manner to carry away moisture and some lint.This step may be performed by agitation in the open air, or in what isknown as a drying tumbler, indicated conventionally at B, Fig. 1, andStandard machines for this purpose now on include a rotatable foraminousplaced. and which rotates in a drying chamber 2 through which a suitablegas` such as air current passing over steam heating coils 4. The machinemay be of the single pass type. in which atmospheric air is conducteddirectly to the heating coils, then through the drum. then to the fansand out to atmosphere,

or. a part of the air maybe re-circulated again and again to collect andcarry away more molsture. The waste 1s tumbled over and bath of oil andcontent,

more or less in detail in Fig. 2.

over in the' drum and some lint is shaken out and passes throu h Ithedrum openings or foraminations an is collectedupon suitable screens orfiltering devices 5.or is dischar ed to the outside atmosphere. Otheram? ay 'r larger amount of lint in the waste is more or less freed forlater removal by the oilv flushing operation which follows thetum-Ufff,.-v bling or agitating operation. This machine, therefore,tumbles the waste and loosens it 7;, up, separates and removes somelint, gets the rest in condition for removal, and removes a considerableportion if not all of the moisture, -1

The remaining lint in the waste, which cannot be removed by agitatingthe waste in drying air, can be removed by flus with the'same kind oflubricating oil which later is valuable for lubricating purposes in thejournal box to which the waste is sups; plied. By merely plunging thewaste into a oling it around and around, or by agitating it in a bath ofoil in a suitable machine, such as an ordinary drum type washingmachine, or by pouring'the oil on to or sm v by otherwise' supplyingitto the waste, the .lint becomes suspended or entrained in the oil,whereas the useful fibres of textile fabric will settle or can becollected. Th'e lint is so small that itwill even pass through fairly`05 fine filters. It is therefore suitable toremove the lint. from thewaste by fiushing or washing with an excess of oil. One suitableapparatus for the purpose is an ordinary centrifugal extractor to'whichoil may be continuously 1GO supplied and caused to pass through the loadof waste. Such a machine is shown at C, Fig. 1 and in Fig. 3, and forexample may be ofthe type illustrated in the patent of John f W. Bercaw,for centrifugal machine, granted m5 'August 28, 1928, No. 1,682,473, towhich reference may be had for a tion if necessary.

The machine shown in, Fig. 3 comprises a suitable stationary curb orcasing 8 in which 1:0 is a rotatable basket or containeryadapted toreceive a charge of the waste and provided with a 'perforated orforaminous outer wall. Along the central axis of the basket are twoperforated cylinders in telescopic or nested 31.5 relation, the outerone 10 being stationary and the inner one 11 being adjustablyrotatableto produce more or less registration of the openings in the twocylinders, and which cylinders form a distributor for the oil su pliedto the waste, which is delivered to t e machine b 'the pipe 12. In thisextractor basket is p aced, for removal ofits remaining content, acharge of waste as it comes from the air drying device.- livered to thewaste before the machine is started, although this is not alwaysessential, butin any event, after the basket yis rotating oil issupplied to the central distributor and rises in the same to its top,centrifugal force 130 more complete descrip ng it out 'i Some oil may bedewhich are relatively adjusted in accordance with the speed ofrotationl andthe viscosity of thev oil, to produce the proper supply.The

oil mayand should be heated to reduce its viscosity and increase itsability to penetrate the Waste and wash out lint. is continued for aproper period and during the treatment the oil penetrates-the Waste andby centrifugal force is caused to travel through `the same, taking upthe lint in suspension and carrymg it outthrough the perforation's orforaminations of the basket merely to insure retarded flow of the oilto.

-a degree as possible,

Wall. In this Way practically all of the lint is Washed out lof theWaste. The supply of oil is now shutoff andthe extracting operation iscont-inued to remove as much of the lint-carrying oil as possible. lVithan extractor, the oil is notonly removed to as low but the removal cithe oil is uniform, which is quite important. l

The .purpose Iof the cylinders 10, 11 is the Waste so as to build up aquantity of oil in said cylinders and supply oil to the upper layers ofWaste in the extractor as Well as to the bottom, and obviously the oilmay be y supplied to the extractor directly from a hose or nozzle orother supplying device and played over the Waste While the basket isrotating. y l In the oil vflushing or washing step it is necessary toset the lint free and suspend or entrain it in the oil ina vmobilecondition so that it will flow with it. Experience shows that Lif agiven vbatch of Waste is treated with a given charge of oil and thelatter is aplied to the Waste again and again, such as y repeatedcirculation, the oil body collects more and more lint until finally theproportion of lint in the oi'lprobably reaches a maximum, after whichfurther -re-circulation or continued treatment seems to be lintremovingwithout benefit. Oil used to treat waste containing a `small quantity'of lint might well collect a definite maximum quantity of lint fromsuchvwaste by re eated circulation and find its level or stab e valuelof i lint content, but the saine oil used on such Waste might collectadditionallint if used for treating Wastecontaining a higher lintcontent. The present invention contemplates any repeated applicaton ofoil to waste, such as by recirculation or otherwise, to a useful degree,but aims to avoid re-use of the oil for lint removal after it hascollected its maximum quantity. of lint under any" lven conditions or,in other words, to avoi any use of the lint laden oil upon Waste vvhichmight permanently restore to the Waste some extracted lint, the wholepurpose of the invention being to remove the lint and permanently keepit out. Where to stop recirculation or repeated oil treatment dependsThe feed of oil rather,

upon several factors, such as the viscosity of the oil, its temperature,the physical charactei' of the Waste, the total lint content, therelative volumelof oil bath to Waste being treated, etc. .Y

The oil that has been used for treating waste by a flushing or Washingstep, so as to reduce the lint content of the Waste to as low a value aspossible, isnot again applied to waste unless there is the possibilityof removing additional lint from such waste, but, is iirst suitablytreated to remove its lint content and therefore renew its lintcollecting ability, or on the other hand, may sometimes be used forother industrial purposes Where lint content is not objectionable.

Removal of the lint fromthe oil may be carried out in any manner, suchas by the method of reclaiming or renovating mineral lubricating oilsdescribed in an application l[Serial No. 74,949, filed December 12,1925, tiycn reference may be. had for a more complete discription oftheprocess desired. For the present it is sufficient to say that by saidGrisbaum method theyoil to be cleaned or renovated and containing dirt,grit and lint in-emulsilied form or in suspension is treated with a.solution ol caustic soda, usually While heated, the effect of which isto break down or destroy part of the lint, such as the woolenor animalfibres, and precipitate the remainder, such as cotton or vegetablefibres. Washing with cold Water removes the /soluble or broken materialand throws down the undissolved lint with the sludge. rlhe clear oilremaining floats on top'of the water and is removed and heated with theapplication of a suction or vacuum effect, which dehydrates the oilWithout the creation of any emulsion, leaving the oil lint-free and in.as by supplying it to the extractor oil feed pipe 12.

Havin removed some lint by a current of drying a1r in a. drying tumbler,such as at B, and having removedv all or substantially all of theremainder by flushing or Washing with lubricatingfoil in suitableapparatus such as the extractor C, the now lint-free waste is ready forshipping' or transportation to the place of content reduced to aminimum, intov an ordinary baling press, indicated conventionally at D,Where it is baledy and tied in the usual manner of materials of thiskind. The baling, of course, protects, all of the internal fibres andprevents the access of moisture to anything except thev outer layerwhich, of course, may also be protected with a suitable imperviousWrapper, so that the waste, lintfreeand with little oil, may be ship edto the place of use and there mixed wit the de- 'red/quantity of cleanlubricating oil in any use. It may be charged, with its oiljV Leonard D.Grisbaum, to Which applicarelative motion is` produced between the v5.1;* "ome or all of the necessary oil, but which the amount requirednated with a :may be of the form this impregnator press includes acylindrical tank or chamber 15 open at its top and containing aremovable piston 16 capable of being drawn downwardl by the vacuum orsuction eii'ect producedY in the chamber beneath it by a source ofsuction communicating with a pipe 17 extending up within the chamber andentering a hollow extension 18 of the piston.v The wasteto beimpregnated, in definite or measured quantity, is placed in -the chamberand a proper measured quantity of oil is added to it, either above orbe-The suction eifect is now; applied to cause the iston to vmove down, allair leavin' the cham er so that the oil flows into the finest interstiesand crevices, not only between the fibres, but actually withinthem.

This vacuum impregnation has the further l ,-advantageof removing anylast traces of moisture that may be present, because the oil is usuallyhot, and the waste may also be hot, and at the higher temperature, say190 F.- or so, the moisture boils oli as vapor and 'is thereby removed.At the same time the mass is compacted and in a sense is baled and capbe removed and packaged 4as finished lubricating waste ready for use ina journal box.

rlf'he. chief attribute of the invention, of course, is the removal oflint from new or raw waste, before its'use in a journal box,

the removal occurring both as the result of `a dry tumbling or similaroperation, wherein waste and drying lair so as to carry away v:se

'moisture and some-lint, and 'by flushing or washing the waste with oil,again to carry away the remaining lint, coupled withwhich I may be thepartial or whole impregnation of the line-free waste with lubricatingoil for use in the journal-box, the product being a compact mass of,lint-free wastecontaining 1n any event is free from llint and thereforereduces liability of-hot boxes when 'itis used in journal boxes forlubricating purposes. no

What' I claim is:

from the` f In testimon both mediums collecting and removing from saidWaste the lint thereof. f

2. The method of conditioning -unoiled` journal box packing, con- Wastefor use in sisting of the step of subjecting said waste to a moisturecollecting gaseous medium, with consequentremoval rfrom the waste ofmoisture and some lint, and the subsequent step of subjecting said wasteto a lubricating oil medium, with consequent more complete lint removalfrom the waste, the removal of moisture from the waste by said firststep permit# tinfr better access' and penetration of the oil medium tothe parts of the waste in said subsequent step.

3. The method of conditioning unoiled waste for use in journal boxpacking, consisting of the step of simultaneously agitatinfr said wasteand subjectin it to a oraseous medium, and the subsequent step ofsubjecting said waste to a li uid medium, said first step effecting theilu g or loosening u of said -Waste, with consequent removal ,y om thewaste of somelint, and said subsequent step effecting morecomplete'removal of lint from the waste, the liuling or loosening u ofter access and penetration of the liquid medium to the parts of thewaste in said subsequent step.

4. The method of conditioning unoiled `waste for use in journal boxpacking, conslsting of the step of simultaneously agitatingv said wasteand subjecting it to a moisture-collectinggaseous medium, and thesubsubjecting. said waste to a sof waste and the removal of moisturetherefrom by said rststep .permitting better access and penetration ofthe lubricating oil 4medium to the parts ofthe waste in said subsequentstep. w y v whereof I hereby ailix my signature. -f S. PEARCE.

yL f'The method of conditioning unoiled4 .l Waste for use irl-journalbox packing, con-A sisting of the step of subjecting said waste to agaseous medium Aand the to a liquid medium,

